What happened today
0079
Famous birthdays
1905
Get history's greatest tales
Subscribe to our HistoryNet Now! newsletter for a blast from the past each week in your inbox.
more events on August 24
-
2010
The Mexican criminal syndicate Los Zetas kills 72 illegal immigrants from Central and South America in San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico.
-
2006
Pluto is downgraded to a dwarf planet when the International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines “planet.”
-
2004
Chechnyan suicide bombers blow up two airliners near Moscow, killing 89 passengers.
-
2003
Alexandre Coste, son of Albert II, Prince of Monaco, and former air stewardess Nicole Coste.
-
1994
Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) create initial accord regarding partial self-rule for Palestinians living on the West Bank, the Agreement on Preparatory Transfer of Powers and Responsibilities.
-
1992
Hurricane Andrew makes landfall in Florida. The Category 5 storm, which had already caused extensive damage in the Bahamas, caused $26.5 billion in US damages, caused 65 deaths, and felled 70,000 acres of trees in the Everglades.
-
1991
Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union; Ukraine declares its independence from USSR.
-
1989
Baseball commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti bans Pete Rose from baseball for gambling.
-
Colombian drug lords declare “total and absolute war” on Colombia’s government, booming the offices of two political parties and burning two politicians’ homes.
-
1981
Mark David Chapman sentenced to 20 years to life for murdering former Beatles band member John Lennon.
-
1975
The principal leaders of Greece’s 1967 coup—Georgios Papadopoulos, Stylianos Pattakos, and Nikolaos Maarezos—sentenced to death for high treason, later commuted to life in prison.
-
1973
Grey DeLisle-Griffin, voice-over actress in animated TV shows (The Fairly OddParents) and video games (Diablo III).
-
1965
Reginald “Reggie” Miller, professional basketball player who set record for most career 3-point field goals (later superseded by Ray Allen); Olympic gold medalist.
-
1963
Hideo Kojima, creator and director of video games (Metal Gear series).
-
US State Department cables embassy in Saigon that if South Vietnam’s president Ngo Dinh Diem does not remove his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu as his political adviser the US would explore alternative leadership, setting the stage for a coup by ARVN generals.